1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display device and a method thereof by which an image is displayed on an electronic viewfinder and a monitor panel provided in an image capturing device such as a video camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable video camera device having both a viewfinder and a monitor panel is widely known in the art.
The viewfinder is used to see an image captured by a lens optical system, and typically, provided in an opposite side to the capture direction of the lens optical system. As such a viewfinder, an electronic viewfinder (EVF) is usually employed in consumer electronic appliances. The electronic viewfinder is made from, for example, a liquid crystal display device to display an image signal as a moving picture by receiving image capturing light obtained by the lens optical system using an imaging element.
For example, in the case of real-time display, the monitor panel is made from a liquid crystal display panel having a size of approximately 3 inches and configured to display the image (monitor image) captured in the current time on the display screen. In addition, the monitor panel is configured to display an index window for listing thumbnail images on the captured and recorded images or a GUI window for displaying graphics of various kinds of manipulations, instructions, or notifications.
In addition, a monitor panel having a display screen unit capable of changing its orientation using a movable installation mechanism is widely used. Such a movable monitor panel can be oriented to the same direction as the capturing direction of the lens optical system by reversing the orientation thereof with respect to the movable mechanism as a rotation axis. In this case, it is possible to make it easier to perform a so-called face-to-face shot or self-shot by displaying the monitor image on the monitor panel. That is, a camera operator can make a shot or recording of himself as a target object while checking himself or herself on the monitor image.
In this manner, when the display screen unit of the monitor panel is oriented to the capturing direction for the purpose of the face-to-face shot, for example, the display screen unit is reversed using the movable mechanism as a rotation axis. Therefore, if the monitor image is displayed as it is in the case of the face-to-face shot, a reversed image is displayed (for example, vertically reversed). Therefore, in the case of the face-to-face shot (i.e., when the display screen unit of the monitor panel is oriented in the capturing direction), the monitor image is corrected, for example, by vertically reversing the image scanned for display.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-121734 is an example of the related art.